In 1900 US business corporations were dominated by plutocratic family owners, while British and French quoted companies showed higher levels of divorce of shareholding owners from management controllers. Distinctive European 'democratic' corporate governance rules explain some of Europe's...

The contrast between the findings of the present authors and Cheffins, Chambers and Koustas is explained by their addressing different sizes of firms. Chandler's view of the relative incidence of the divorce of ownership from control among large firms remains unsupported by any quantitative...